


An Early Start, a Cold Morning and a Hot Drink

by WinglessCrows



Series: Through the Eyes of a Cook [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, Nakamaship, No Romance, Post-Dressrosa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-11 08:22:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7883770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinglessCrows/pseuds/WinglessCrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zoro and Sanji are always at each other's throats, but when three special conditions are met, everything between them is peaceful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Early Start, a Cold Morning and a Hot Drink

Anyone who spent ten seconds in the same room as Zoro and Sanji would know that their relationship wasn't exactly rooted in love and kind affection. They fought most of the time, whether that be verbally or physically. They also seemed to disagree on so many basic things that people outside of the Strawhats found it hard to believe that they could function as part of the same crew. But there were moments of peace between them. Granted, they were rare, but they existed and they occurred only when the following three things happened simultaneously. 1) Zoro had to be the second person to wake up, only rising after Sanji, who was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. 2) It had to be cold enough for Zoro not wanting to train so early in the morning, thus making him go to the kitchen, which always had a nice temperature and 3) Sanji had to be aware of the first two things before Zoro, so that he could welcome Zoro with a hot drink. Sanji had gotten quite good at fulfilling the last condition, because he had grown tired of Zoro interrupting the quiet, which was a luxury only the morning brought. 

The first time all three conditions had been fulfilled was the first time Sanji had acknowledged Zoro's strength as something far greater than his own. And all Zoro had to do to make Sanji admit it (to himself, and only to himself) was to be there. During the entire morning, from the moment Zoro had walked in and gotten a drink from Sanji to the moment he left with the others after breakfast, Zoro had been quiet. He had only talked to Luffy once he arrived, and in the time where nothing happened, he had tended to his swords, yet Sanji knew. He knew that Zoro was somewhere he couldn't reach and he knew that Luffy was lucky to have him as a loyal first mate. And it seemed that Luffy knew this as well, because halfway during the meal, he stopped eating, looked Sanji in the eye and said without any words: 'Isn't Zoro strong?' And Sanji agreed. Sanji had always known that Zoro was strong and he had been quick to acknowledge that the only one was stronger than Zoro was their Captain, but this was the first time he had truly understood Zoro's strength. The strength that Luffy relied on whenever he needed someone beside him or whenever he was bragging about how strong his crew was, because believe or not, Luffy liked to brag about his friends. 

Keep in mind, when Sanji called Zoro strong, he didn't actually refer to his physical strength. As much as there was no doubt that Zoro was unnaturally strong, Sanji also knew that he stood his equal. The strength that separated the two of them was something entirely different. It was something that Sanji couldn't quite put into words, yet he found it so easy to understand and he wondered why he hadn't noticed it sooner.

It wasn't just a random revelation that came out of nowhere though. They had entered a part of the Grand Line which was known as the Hunter's nest, because of its low waters and great amount of small rocky islands that covered a few days of travel. This then made it a perfect place for an ambush and the amount of bounty hunters which took advantages of this was ridiculously high. Now, the Strawhats weren't exactly known for their good luck and fortune, but they had now been stuck in this rocky hell for more than a week and it was starting to have an effect on the crew. 

In the beginning it had actually been a lot of fun for everyone, because none of these bounty hunters, no matter how many came at once, posed any real threat to the mighty pirates of the Strawhat crew. Luffy, Zoro and Sanji loved a good fight and all of them had eagerly been awaiting one for some time. Therefore the first attack had quickly been handled by the three of them, while the others had just calmly put money on how many hunters each of them could take down. To Nami's great disappointment she had been really close, only being one off on Zoro and Sanji, while Usopp had been spot on on all three of them. She had, of course, been mad at him for the rest of the day. 

The next few days they had been using the bounty hunters as some sort of training exercise. Some just wanted to try out a few new moves and some had very definite goals. One of those people was Usopp, who wanted to increase his accuracy over much longer distances than previously. This had seemed ambitious to Sanji, not because Usopp wasn't good, in fact it was quite the opposite. Usopp was such a skilled sniper that Sanji found it hard to imagine how much better he could get, after all there was a limit to how far the human eye could see and a limit to how far his weapons could actually shoot. Sanji remembered only all too well, when Usopp had been standing on top of the Tower of Justice, shooting down enemies to free Robin, while the marines stood by helplessly, as their rifles had no way of reaching the sniper... And that was two years ago, so when Usopp during the third ambush, if it could be called an ambush at this point, completed his goal, Sanji had let curiosity get the better of him and asked Usopp how he had managed to get it done so quickly. And boy was Sanji in for a treat. 

Usopp revealed to him that with a lot of theoretical reading, a few pointers from Franky and a whole lot of failing and adjusting accordingly, Usopp had made his slingshot one of the most advanced pieces of weaponry Sanji had ever heard of. It had been made of a light, but strong material, which Sanji honestly couldn't remember the name of, which made it easy for Usopp to control even during a long battle with all the worst conditions possible. The sling itself was crafted from a home made rubber mixture, which Usopp said had been inspired by Luffy and the way his body seemed to work. This allowed for a faster release, making the maximum distance reach further than the best gun found in all of the seven seas. Usopp had also used his extensive knowledge of dials for various things. He used wind dials to increase accuracy and speed. He used fire dials to increase the scale of the impact. He used heat dials to create a disturbance in the air that was just big enough to throw other snipers off and he used impact dials if he need something extra destructive. There were a few other details which kind of just went over Sanji's head, but he understood the effort Usopp had put into this weapon. 

The slingshot aside, Sanji learned that Usopp had observation Haki. Apparently he had unlocked it in a very critical moment during the events of Dressrosa. He had then slowly been trying to use this power more consciously and with greater control ever since they had left the island to chase after the curly-hat pirates. After Sanji had processed the fact that Usopp had been the next person to acquire Haki on the crew, he gave him a few pieces of advice, since observation Haki was his speciality. The two of them had ended up talking through the night, leaving both of them out of the action the following day. 

As the days dragged on and the attacks didn't die down, the strawhats found themselves in great need of a break. They were fighting big groups of people at least twice a day and though the bounty hunters didn't get stronger, the strawhats could feel themselves growing tired. It came to a point where no one got a good night's sleep, because they needed to be aware and alert at all times and in case of an emergency, aka someone actually strong showing up, no one wanted to wear Luffy and Zoro out by having them take care of it every time. Sanji was already one of the people who barely got enough sleep due to his job as a cook and with all the attacks happening, Sanji spent extra long on the meals, optimizing their energy intake with the food they had left. So on the tenth day, when it was snowing enough for Luffy to build a giant out of snow and Zoro woke up early, Sanji was tired and feeling on edge. He was fearing that an attack would wake up the crew, thus denying them the sleep they needed, but then Zoro walked in, got his drink and Sanji felt strangely at ease. 

Nami had once told Vivi that when travelling with the Strawhats, one's worries seemed to go away and now Sanji understood. What the crew did to outsiders (whom they liked), Zoro did to the Strawhats. Sanji had been there when Zoro had lost to Mihawk and had declared that from that day forth, he would never lose again. Sanji had always thought that that was a dumb statement. Everyone loses once in a while that's just how life works and loss helps you grow, but here Zoro was and after two years, Sanji finally believed those words. Zoro was like a rock. Strong, steadfast and always standing no matter how much the forces of nature tried to break him. He was the person Luffy relied on in times of weakness and the one who had his back in times of strength. Luffy was their Captain, their leader and ultimately the one holding everything together, but he could only do so with Zoro by his side and everyone understood that. So when Zoro is calm, collected and ready for the next attack everyone can relax, because that means that both Zoro and Luffy are ready for another fight, so there is nothing to worry about. 

And the next time Zoro wakes up early on a cold morning, Sanji has his drink ready and though they exchange no words Sanji feels at peace and ready for whatever the world wants to throw at them that day, because Zoro is there and Zoro is strong.


End file.
